Regarding the Child Abuse Services Team (CAST) statistics, Paul Gallegos asks in the email below '...why do we keep the stats we keep?..."
On the one hand, this is a clear example of why the Grand Jury (2004-2005) reported that it" is the unfortunate truth that the D.A. exhibits a limited understanding of how things are done in the department"
After five years in office, you'd think he'd know the answer to this question.
On the other hand, those stats are a HUGE embarrassment for him, and you can bet he'd rather they not be kept. Remember the last time the CAST stats were revealed, the data showed an alarming and precipitous decline in the number of CAST cases filed since Paul Gallegos took office. Things didn't get any better after Gallegos removed Maggie Flemming, the competent, qualified Senior DDA he had assigned to CAST and gave those responsibilities to Jeffrey "yougofree.com" Schwartz. Not only appointed Schwartz to head it up but paid him extra for it...
There are alot of questions Gallegos could be asking - about how to repair the CAST program that he has all but dismantled.
I realize the stats are embarrassing, BUT Gallegos should be figuring out how to fix the program, not how to hide the stats.
-----Original Message-----
From: Gallegos, Paul [mailto: PGallegos@co.humboldt.ca.us]
Sent: Friday, January 04, 2008 9:04 AM
To: Lewis, Melinda; Aaron Starcher; Angela Sundberg; BIG LAGOON
RANCHERIA; BLUE LAKE RANCHERIA; Bob Kane; Cassie Burgess (E-mail);
Cavinta, George; Chief TPD Ken Thrailkill; Crandall, Phillip; Damiano,
Bill; Daniel Pratt, Karuk Tribe; Dave Gunderson, Chief BLPD; Dave
Parris, Chief Yurok PD; Donna Johnson; Duncan, Jeannie; Eads, Stacey J;
Ed Guyer, Sgt. HVTPD; Fewell, Deana (June); Gomes, Jean; Graham Hill,
Chief RDPD; Heather Landreneaux; Hislop, Michael; Honsal, William; Howe,
Karla; Jean LaPietra; Jennifer Roberts; Jennifer Rose; Karen Cahill;
Kevin Lawson; Kris Kitna, Chief FoPD; Lewis, Beverly Morgan; Lonnie
Lawson, Chief FePD; Lynne Soderberg; Maryann Hayes Mariani; Moser,
Joyce; Neel, Kelly; Neil Hubbard, Detective EPD; Nord, Ben; Officer
Richardson, FoPD; Philp, Gary; Randy Mendosa; Rasines, Doug; Shoshani,
Michele; Steve Volow; Tom Chapman, Captain APD; Tom Dewey, Chief HSUPD;
Wendy Morris; Wheeler, Donna; William Hostler, Chief HVTPD
Cc: Neel, Kelly; Honsal, William
Subject: RE: CAST meeting agenda items?
I have a question I would like put on the agenda, why do we keep the stats we keep? What is the purpose? What is the goal? Is it something that came from another agency? I am curious what it is we are trying to measure or track.
Paul V. Gallegos
District Attorney
Office of the District Attorney, Humboldt County
825 Fifth Street
Eureka, CA 95501
(707) 445-7411
Fax: (707) 445-7416
The information contained in this email message is intended for the CONFIDENTIAL use of the addressees only. The information is protected under the attorney-client privilege and the work-product privilege. Recipients should not file copies of this email with publicly accessible documents. If you are not an addressee or an authorized agent responsible for delivering this email to a designated addressee, and you have received this email in error, THEN ANY FURTHER REVIEW, DISSEMINATION, DISTRIBUTION, COPYING OR FORWARDING of this email is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. If you receive this email in error, please notify the office of the Humboldt County District Attorney immediately at (707) 445-7411. Thank you in advance for your courtesy and cooperation in this matter.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lewis, Melinda
> Sent: Friday, January 04, 2008 8:26 AM
> To: Aaron Starcher; Angela Sundberg; BIG LAGOON RANCHERIA; BLUE LAKE
RANCHERIA; Bob Kane; Cassie Burgess (E-mail); Cavinta, George; Chief TPD
Ken Thrailkill; Crandall, Phillip; Damiano, Bill; Daniel Pratt, Karuk
Tribe; Dave Gunderson, Chief BLPD; Dave Parris, Chief Yurok PD; Donna
Johnson; Duncan, Jeannie; Eads, Stacey J; Ed Guyer, Sgt. HVTPD; Fewell,
Deana (June); Gallegos, Paul; Gomes, Jean; Graham Hill, Chief RDPD;
Heather Landreneaux; Hislop, Michael; Honsal, William; Howe, Karla; Jean
LaPietra; Jennifer Roberts; Jennifer Rose; Karen Cahill; Kevin Lawson;
Kris Kitna, Chief FoPD; Lewis, Beverly Morgan; Lewis, Melinda; Lonnie
Lawson, Chief FePD; Lynne Soderberg; Maryann Hayes Mariani; Moser,
Joyce; Neel, Kelly; Neil Hubbard, Detective EPD; Nord, Ben; Officer
Richardson, FoPD; Philp, Gary; Randy Mendosa; Rasines, Doug; Shoshani,
Michele; Steve Volow; Tom Chapman, Captain APD; Tom Dewey, Chief HSUPD;
Wendy Morris; Wheeler, Donna; William Hostler, Chief HVTPD
> Subject: CAST meeting agenda items?
>
> If anyone has anything they want added to the agenda for next week's meeting, please let me know.
>
> Thank you,
> Melinda Lewis
> CAST Office Coordinator
***
I can answer this one for ya, Paul. The stats are kept so that any granting agency can know whether the terms of their grants are being met. The stats are kept so that we, the public, can know if we are getting our money's worth and, in this case, so that we can know the extent to which you are failing the children of Humboldt County.
Related:
ER - Former deputy DA speaks out
Be sure to look at the statistics chart
ER - Candidates spar over child abuse team
ER - DA's Office yet to respond to request for child abuse records
ER - CAST established with child victims in mind
ER - CAST needs support Gallegos is not providing
A matter of priorities
Paul Gallegos - Paying More for Less re: Schwartz January 2, 2007
PUBLIC RECORDS ACT REQUEST re: CAST May 8, 2007
In addition I have filed Public Records Act Requests for the CAST agendas. minutes and attendance sheets - Gallegos claims such documents are "evidentiary" in nature and therefore refuses to release them.
And where, pray tell, are the stats and the other documents requested oh so long ago, once deemed confidential and since then apparently lost in night and fog?
ReplyDeleteIt's quite simply a shame that the Office of District Attorney, the Office which is instituted to uphold the Rights of the Law abiding Citizenry is a Political office.
ReplyDeleteThe prime mandate for the elected official then becomes assuring that he will have a job in the next term.
I'm not even speaking of Gallegos here. It's the same Bravo Sierra all over.
Should be a two year, appointed position.....keep Justice for the Citizenry as the P.D., and keep the careerists out of it.
Just sayin'......
Wollf
Well, the previous DA served for 17 years. He had his share of detractors, as any elected official does, but nothing along the lines of what we have here. Whether you liked Terry farmer or not, he built a dynamite team of prosecutors which have almost all been lost, fired, or driven off by Gallegos... he put together programs like CAST and Victim Witness which were models for the State and made sure they worked to better serve victims of crime.
ReplyDeleteNone of that can be said about this abject failure, Paul Gallegos. There is not one single thing that he has done to improve the office.
Well....Schwartz is gone. But not by Paul's doing....that we know of....
ReplyDeleteHis job "performance" is malpractice at best, criminal at worst.
ReplyDeletewe conclude the State’s evidence, even if credited, would not justify its
ReplyDeleteprevailing at trial. Further, we conclude the State has failed to prove, on its third try, a
reasonable possibility that the operative pleading’s defect can be cured by amendment.
(Blank, supra, 39 Cal.3d at p. 318.) THAT'S APPELLATE COURT FOR "YOU SIR, ARE A MORON".
I can imagine this thought bubble above Gallegos's head as he wrote this email: "These statistics are really, really inconvenient for my political career because people then have empirical evidence of how badly this office is doing, and that doesn't really jibe with my 'Crime Figher' slogan. So....unless anybody can come up with a really compelling reason otherwise, I think I'll just quit keeping records of my terrible track record, so that people like that annoying Rose can't request them anymore. No statistics, no proof of incompetence...problem solved."
ReplyDeleteOk, but what happened to the CAST minutes, etc. Let's see what led up to this mess. The claim that these items were "investigatory" is rubbish. Investigatory means the investigation is ongoing. Which, given the state of CAST, is
ReplyDeletemore than mildly amusing. Moreover, you just blank out the names of the active cases. It's not investigatory to see what agencies were participating, whether the DA's CAST people were attending, what issues were being discussed, what problems resolved.
I agree, and I have been remiss in resubmitting my request. Agendas, minutes and attendance are not investigatory no matter how broadly a prosecutor is allowed to define that.
ReplyDeleteThe point was to find out if Gallegos or Schwartz attended ANY of the meetings.
They obviously do NOT want us to know the answer. That alone speaks volumes.
I do intend to refile. I hesitated because doing so most likely means litigation, and I HATE, HATE, HATE litigation.
But - sometimes, even I have to admit it is necessary.
The law is clear, he will (the County will) have to pay all of my attorney's fees on this one.
I am working on my request.
It's time to end this charade.